The Avian
by LupineMagnum
Summary: Falco settles the score with his former employer in a mafia style shootout. If you like action, read this and PLEASE REVIEW. You guys are the best! NOW EDITED!


**Legal Shit:  
**You all know the drill…

**Authors Note:**  
Ok, second fanfic here, sorry about the wait. I got the feeling this MIGHT not be as good as my last one, I'm trying a more casual style of writing to fit in with Falco's character. As I said, this is all to get comments about my style, so this is an experiment. Let me know if you like it or if you'd like to see more of the Wolf-styled fanfic writing.

**The Avian **

A single bead of water glided to the end of his beak and feel to the sidewalk, the sound of its impact lost amongst the sound made by millions of other raindrops hitting the ground. Being mid-spring on the northern hemisphere on Corneria, one would expect that the streets would be full of people, going about their business or just enjoying the great weather that usually came with this time of the year. However, the streets were empty, save for a lone figure standing on the corner. He reached up and wiped the water from his eyes, before feeling the damp feathers on top of his head.

"Typical," said Falco, "just had to loose my hat"

He glanced back over his shoulder.

"_Of course there is no-one there, not on a day like today_"

Looking around he noticed the surprising abundance of cars parked in driveways. Great, the last thing he needed was to be seen. Ever since the great and noble Falco Lombardi had saved the Lylat system for the nth time, he hadn't had a moments rest. Press conference here, public speech there. Given his current situation, he just wanted to get on with business, without disturbance from any wide-eyed fanboys.

"_I wish they made these things for taller people_" he thought, wrapping the raincoat a little tighter around him

It belonged to Fox though, so it wasn't his place to complain. Still, being half a foot taller than most Cornerians meant he'd have to go all the way back home to Avia to get anything remotely suitable.

"_They know I hate the cold, why did they pick today? Hell, this isn't even me…WHY am I doing this…for the love of…"_

His thoughts were cut off by a torrent of water to his face. Pulling himself together, he expected to see a taxi speeding off, its immigrant venomian driver laughing arrogantly as he deluded himself with images of grandeur, striking a blow against the Cornerians all in the name of the great, yet late emperor Andross. However, what he saw was of far greater concern to him.

A jet black car had pulled up to the sidewalk, a few metres down the road. Being obviously expensive, too expensive for the neighborhood, Falco knew, without thinking, who the passengers were.

"_Here we go_"

Putting on a cocky grin and wiping some more water from his eyes, he leisurely strode up to the rear passenger door. The window glided down and as Falco peered inside, he instantly recognized the driver, a burly feline, and the man in the back seat, whose origin still escaped those who knew him. He appeared to be mix of vulpine, feline and lapine, with god knows what else thrown into the mix, Falco had only speculated as to where he was from. Dressed as he was though, he looked, for all the part, a shoddy used car dealer. However, it was the figure sitting in the passenger seat that caught his attention. He could easily be mistaken for Fox, if his fur had not been a brilliant white. The figure didn't seem to notice him, instead staring blankly to the road ahead, not uttering a sound.

"Good to see you can still drive, Lucas" Falco shouted at the driver.

"No problems, here to help" Lucas retorted, his voice laced with sarcasm

"As for you…" Falco began as he turned his attention to the man sitting in front of him.

"Mr Lombardi" the man began, "We have had quite enough of your antics thus far. Either you co-operate and listen or there will be repercussions, I can assure you of that"

"Fine, skip the pleasantries, I got it, what do you want?"

The man spoke again. "It has come to our attention, not through any lucrative channels, that you, as a result of your recent dealings with a certain General Pepper concerning the dispatch of the Aparoid threat, have come into possession of a rather impressive sum of money. We hope that you have not forgotten a certain deal you made with your former employer some years ago, a deal that ended in less than harmonious circumstances. Suffice to say you owe quite a large debt, and patience wears thin"

"Now listen," Falco replied, taking a step back, "I told you, I'm not playing your games anymore. Find someone else to do your dirty work"

The man canted his head sideways at Falco, narrowing his gaze to a thin glower. "Need I remind you of the ramifications of betrayal. If you so choose to end our working relationship here, you'll never hear from us again, unless of course, you come looking for us. If you need clarification, that was a threat"

"What makes you think you can scare me with that crap, you've fed it to me time and time again. I'm through, I work for Starfox now. You think you can push us around, we get paid to take out scum like you, Ivan"

"Mr Lombardi…"

"Patronize me once more and I swear I'll pull this trigger"

Falco, now with blaster in hand, was aiming directly at the mans head. 

Ivan smirked, looking back towards the front of the car, "You won't shoot me, you know all to well what will happen if you do. You're a coward Lombardi, always have been, you won't pull that trigger"

Falco pointed the blaster towards the read end of the vehicle. Pulling the trigger, the taillight exploded in a shower of sparks and shattered glass, the report of the shot lost in the rain. Grinning, he returned his aim to Ivan's head.

"Won't I?"

Looking somewhat shocked, but maintaining a professional composure, Ivan spoke again. "I see. Before I end our dealings for today, I'd like to add on a personal note that I believe Fox McCloud has messed with your mind. He knows nothing of subtlety, thinking that everything can be solved with violence. I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this, but this is how we deal with…scum…like you"

It was at this point that Falco noticed the white vulpine was no longer sitting in the front passenger seat. Whirling around, he found himself staring straight into the eyes of the unknown fox. Falco's beak dropped.

"_His_ _eyes, they're green…just like Fox…but how…I didn't even see him…_"

Falco suddenly found himself up close and personal with the car door, before his vision was filled with the rapidly ascending curb, then black.

**Several hours later**

Falco opened his eyes and was immediately in immense pain. His hands shot to his forehead and, letting out a small yelp, he sat bolt upright. Not knowing where he was, he failed to realize that there was someone standing behind him. The back of his skull collided with the crotch of the figure. Hearing a scream, Falco's first reaction was that he had just awoke in the middle of a firefight. His hand shot for his blaster, but, realizing that it wasn't there, he spun around, just in time to see a large fist a nanosecond before it collided with his face.

"Son of a bitch!" Falco yelled, now fully awake and alert.

The force of the punch had sent him flying of the chair and onto the floor, where his form now rest, limbs sprawled in every direction. He lay there for a second before propping himself up onto his knees and searching around for his assailant. Looking up he saw Lucas.

"Lucas you creep" he spat, "why did you do…"

Falco received a hard kick to the gut. Doubling over, he coughed up a little blood before once again falling to the floor.

"Shut up, bird" Lucas sneered, "You're in my charge until Skarl gets here, so keep your beak shut and nothing unpleasant happens"

"Forgot how charming you were" Falco mumbled.

What was that?" shouted Lucas, looming over him.

Falco didn't reply, instead giving Lucas a dry look, before returning his gaze to the floor.

"_I don't know how you get yourself into these things,_" Falco mused "_and this time Fox isn't here to save you_"

Several minutes passed, the throbbing pain in his head having died down somewhat, before Falco looked up again. Glancing around the room, he saw it was a warehouse of some sort. Several crates were stacked rather haphazardly at one end. Apart from that, the only obvious feature in the room was the large set of garage doors at the end opposite the crates. They would of course be locked, so the only way in and out of the room was the small doorway off to the side. He and Lucas weren't alone in the room. Three armed guards stood maniacally next to the door, as if waiting for something.

"Don't even think about it, Lombardi" Lucas said viciously, "You're not getting out of this one".

"How much is Skarl paying you?"

"What?"

"I said how much is he paying you, answer the damn question!" Falco said.

"What's it to you" Lucas shot back "It's not going to matter one way or the other, but maybe I'll get a bonus if I make your last moments of life a living hell"

At that he gave Falco another sharp kick to the gut, causing the avian to roll onto his back, coughing up yet more blood. Summoning his resolve, he got to his feet and looked Lucas in the eye.

"I hope you are getting hazard pay for his"

A sharp punch to the solar plexus was too much, and Falco fell to the floor, his only sight now that off Lucas's boots.

"…because you are going to need it" he whispered.

The next few minutes seemed like an eternity for Falco. He just lay there, not moving, just thinking. Contemplating where he had gone wrong. He knew that working for the Space Hot Rodders was going to come back and get him one day, but he always thought it would be some trivial thing like a gun run that needed doing or some simple transaction. Whatever they had in mind though, he knew it didn't involve him coming out of it alive.

"_Well, even if I die, I won't regret it...not my style. Heh, if I hadn't joined up in the first place, I would never have met Katt_"

His attempts to make his last thoughts pleasant were interrupted by the sound of a metallic door opening. Surprised that he still had a reasonable amount of strength left in him, Falco got to his feet and turned to face the sound. Standing there, in the doorway, was Skarl. Skarl, the guy hadn't changed a bit. Still the epitome of arrogance and egotism. The way he haughty carried himself, one would think he was boss of an intergalactic crime syndicate.

"_These guys should meet Star Wolf, then they'd understand that their little piss-ant operation isn't worth a damn_"

Falco found himself smirking, amused not only at the thought of Wolf O'Donnell pounding Skarl's face in with his gigantic, lupine fist, but also at the idea that for once in his life, he'd actually be glad to see his team's arch rivals. Pushing those thoughts from his head, he simply gave Skarl a condescending look.

"How nice of you to come and see me like this" Falco mocked, "I missed the little conversations we used to have"

"Cocky to the end, I like that" Skarl said, his reptilian voice barely audible above the sound of the rain hitting the warehouse roof.

"You know me, just can't help myself.

Skarl flickered his tongue out between his teeth, as if baiting Falco. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a cigar and placed it between his teeth. Instantly, the gunman next to him whipped out a lighter and ignited the tobacco, Skarl taking a long puff before blowing smoke into the face of his henchman.

"Smoking is bad for your health, it's gunna kill you one day"

Ignoring Falco's comments, Skarl spoke,"You see, Falco, all of us already know that you never planned on coming back to repay your debt, that you were just going to run forever, with your glory and spoils of war, posing the part of the hero all over Lylat" Skarl said oily, taking another puff. "And of course you know that we had, and still have a need for you...

Noticing the somewhat hopeful look in Falco's eyes, Skarl drawled on, "…so you might think we're not going to kill you"

"The thought had crossed my mind"

"Please, don't be so ignorant. I said we had a need for you, yes. I neglected to say that that particular need is now outweighed by my personal desire to see every drop of your blood spilt upon this floor. Still, the amount of money you stole from us when you were supposed to deliver it to our client is trivial, it's nothing, so maybe I'm being too harsh… then again"

Smiling, Skarl walked into the room. Falco's eyes tracked him before he noticed the person standing behind him, previously obscured by the lizards form. It was a female Coyote, golden furred, and, in Falco's opinion, drop dead gorgeous. She followed Skarl into the room and stood by his side, her eyes fixed on Falco. They didn't have a look of anger or loathing in them like the others in the room, rather, she looked at Falco in shock, almost awe.

"_At least the ladies still have a thing for me_"

"Ah Falco, I don't believe you have met my assistant" Skarl said, motioning towards the Coyote. "Meet Mila, she helped us find you. From what she said, it wasn't too hard. Flaunting all that money around on Zoness. You're getting sloppy, you used to be so…careful"

"Hey, what can I say" he spoke, "We we're celebrating. Had a great time too"

"Do tell"

Falco smirked, he was playing mind games. "Well, what can I say, the beaches there are great now that it's all cleaned up. Plenty of hot babes for me to check out, watching Peppy trying to swim with his injuries, good for a laugh. Though not as funny as me walking into the hotel room and catching Fox and Krystal…" He paused before grinning again and glancing at the Coyote girl "…but I won't go on, we're in mixed company and it would be rude of me"

Skarl laughed, "Always concerned for the fairer gender, Falco. Still, I'd like to go there one day, maybe I will after I receive the bounty for killing you"

"Bounty?"

"Please," said Skarl, "You humble yourself. Do you honestly think that we are the only group interested in your death? Don't be so foolish"

He took another puff.

"But I've wasted too much time, time to settle things"

Skarl reached into his coat and pulled out a long, silver dagger. As he ambled over towards Falco, who suddenly found himself in the vice-like grip of Lucas, an almost sensual grin spread across his face.

"Tell me where you want it, Lombardi" sneered Skarl, his demeanor changing instantly "In the chest or across the neck"

Falco gave his former employer a blank look before speaking to Lucas, "Sorry about getting you in the groin before, I'll try and mix things up a bit"

Faster than Skarl and Lucas could follow, Falco stamped his boot. In doing so, a short blade extended from the heel. Thrusting his leg backwards, the blade entered Lucas's shin. The grip on Falco instantly released and a scream of pain was heard. Not wasting the opportunity, the Avian's elbow shot backwards and impacted Lucas's chin, sending him reeling over backwards and rendering him unconscious. Looking at Skarl, who was frozen in shock by the whole spectacle, Falco grinned evilly before delivering a vicious punch to his guts, sending him to the ground.

"Hey!" Falco heard one of the guards shout.

Looking up, he noticed that two were running for their guns, while the third was making for the door.

"_Skarl didn't train these guys too well_"

Taking two swift steps backwards, Falco scooped up Lucas's fallen blaster and took aim. Two sharp sounds pierced the night as the two guards fell dead, inches from their weapons. Falco wheeled around and aimed for the last guard, who had retrieved his weapon and was dropping to one knee to take aim. Lining the crosshairs up on the gunman's head, he squeezed the trigger as he had done countless times before. The bright, crimson beam erupted forth and hit the guard directly in the chest, punching out his back and leaving a small burn on the metallic wall behind him.

With all the guards dispatched, Falco turned to face Skarl, who was slowly getting to his feet. He reached into his coat once again to fetch what Falco could only assume must be a weapon. Lining the blaster up he spoke in a commanding voice;

"Don't be so sure of yourself, Skarl. Turn around"

Skarl's shoulders slumped as he turned to face the avian, eyes full of rage.

"Falco…." He began.

Cutting him off, Falco said, "Remember how I said that smoking would kill you?"

Skarl said nothing.

"I lied"

The last thing the lizard saw before he died was a blue bird giving him the one fingered salute. Skarls lifeless corpse crashed to the ground, a smoking hole all that remained of his face. 

Falco lowered the blaster. Turning around he noticed that the Coyote girl was still in the room, a look of complete terror across her face.

Smirking and striking a pose, Falco spoke, "It's Mila yeah?"

She nodded

Throwing the gun over his shoulder he chirped, "Impressed?"

As she opened her mouth to reply, Falco saw movement in the darkness behind her, a flash of white.

"GET DOWN!" he screamed, bringing the blaster to eye level.

Rather than drop to the ground, the Coyote simply took a single step to the side, turned around and made a single motion with her hand. Falco heard a high pitched blast and saw Ivan slump to one side of the doorframe before collapsing in a heap, blood slowly pooling under him. The girl turned again to face Falco and finally spoke,

"Sorry, I had to do that, he was an absolute psychopath. Tried to rape me a few nights ago."

"Huh, but shouldn't you be shooting me, I just killed your boss!" Falco replied.

Mila smiled, "Oh no not at all, I don't work for these people, I'm a cop. I went undercover to gather evidence so we could finally put Skarl Powalski away, but I suppose I've had my work cut out for me"

"I never liked him anyway"

Mila walked over to Falco and extended her hand. Falco took it and shook.

"Well" he said, "I guess you won't be arresting me for murder then"

"I wouldn't dream of it, in fact, I should be thanking you"

Falco grinned slyly, "In that case, here"

He placed into the girls hand a piece of white paper, slightly stained with blood. Mila opened it up and read it before looking Falco in the eye again.

"What this?"

"My number"

"Why would I need that?"

"So you can call me later and "thank" me"

Mila grinned and dropped the paper to the ground, "Mr Lombardi, just because you are famous doesn't mean you can always have your way. Anyway, that's not important right now. I have to report this in. We can finally get this case closed and I can start tracking down Wolf O'Donnell. A reliable contact says he will be in Corneria City within the week, so it will be my chance to do some more undercover work"

"Well good luck with that, but watch it; he's a really nasty piece of work."

Falco began walking towards the large doors at the end of the warehouse. Spotting a terminal to one side, he punched in a command. Machinery started whirring and the doors slowly opened.

Taking one last look back at Mila he said, "Oh, and make sure that Lucas is nice and comfortable in jail, he's my buddy after all" With that, the Avian walked out into the rain and disappeared into the gloom.

Mila looked down at the corpses and felt a slight heave in her stomach.

"_C'mon, you're tougher than that_"

Fishing her handcuffs out of her pocket, she walked over to Lucas's still unconscious form.

"_So that was Falco Lombardi….impressive_"

End

**Footnote:**

I hope you enjoyed that, please read and review. I styled it a little differently from the last, more casual, so to speak. I'll do an edit or two on it to get some things ironed out. Note: This was written at 2am in the morning, so spelling and grammar might be a little off. Let me know and I'll fix it. Cheers for now


End file.
